Disclaimer:
These characters do not belong to me, but to the writers and producers
of Roswell
Spoilers:
After Chant Down Babylon, changes happening where Max is successfully
rescued, and Michael was the one who broke up with Maria.
Pairings: You’ll have to wait and see!
Author’s notes: Queen
Fadila Kedar: Max/Isabel’s mother
King
Alaric Kedar: Max/Isabel’s father
Andaria: Tess’ mother
Radim:
Tess’ father
Kedrans: race from which Royal Four descended
Iturians: race from which Khivar descended, and
overthrew and killed Zan and the Kedrans
***
Some of us think holding on makes us
strong;
But sometimes it is letting go.
-
Herman Hesse
***
“Where do you think they could be?” Liz asked Maria
irritably. She began pacing back and
forth again. They had been waiting at
Michael’s apartment for any sign of the alien hybrids for about an hour.
Maria glared at her.
“I told you that is driving me up the wall!” she said through clenched
teeth.
Liz sighed and threw her hands up in the air as she let
herself fall back into the less-than-comfortable couch. “I just don’t understand where they could
be,” Liz repeated. “Do you think Tess
did something to them?”
Maria folded her arms as she leaned against the kitchen
counter. “What’s to do to them?” she
asked drolly. “Max and Michael are big
boys. If they want to go off somewhere and
skip school, it’s their prerogative.”
Liz frowned. “Why
are you being like this?”
“Being like what?” Maria asked tiredly. She wasn’t up for another few rounds of
‘shutting out the humans’ today.
“Look, I know I have been so wrapped up in Max lately that I
haven’t had time to be there for you,” Liz admitted apologetically. “I should have made the time. You’ve always done that for me.”
Maria rolled her eyes.
“Time for what? Another episode
of ‘As The Planets Align’?” she retorted. “It’s stupid. What’s the
point? Guerin broke up with me how many
months ago?” Maria should have known it
wouldn’t work, and after a few weeks of mulling it over, she was tired of
trying to figure out what else she could have done to keep them together.
“We were done the first time he broke up with me. I was just too blind and desperate to
realize it. So please don’t feel sorry
for me when you have a crisis of your own massive proportions! I’m just being a bag today.”
Liz frowned. “What
are you talking about?”
Maria raised her eyebrows up in surprise. “You mean you don’t think that there’s
anything wrong with what’s been going on here the last few, oh, months?”
Liz swallowed hard.
“I…I don’t know what you mean by that,” she declared. “Things have just been off kilter for the
past month or so because of Max’s illness.
Nothing else. Now that he’s
feeling better, we can graduate high school together, and travel like we said
we would. The four of us.”
Maria looked at Liz and shook her head sadly; the girl was
living in a fantasy world. “Liz,
hello? Did you not see the blonde
appear and save Max’s life? She’s
obviously after something…and we all know it isn’t our slice of alien fame!”
“It doesn’t matter,” Liz denied. “Max doesn’t feel that way about her. Not since I exposed her for the murder of Alex. He wouldn’t hurt us like that. He wouldn’t betray Alex like that.”
Maria felt like smacking the child upside the head. “Does it matter? She can just mind warp him into not caring!”
“Max wouldn’t let her!”
Liz was in complete denial.
Tess had powers, Liz could only dream of. They had given her an inch almost a year ago, and they were still
paying the price. No powers in the
world could bring Alex back. And now
Maria was sure the witch still had her sights on Max. “Well, Max doesn’t always control his you know what around that
girl!”
Liz began to run her fingers through her long dark hair,
stopping halfway through, so her hair hung loosely over her hands, but out of
her face. “Maria, what are you saying?”
she asked anxiously. “I’m going to lose
Max to Tess? That’s a little far
fetched isn’t it?”
Maria bit her lip and studied Liz’s worried expression. She was going on gut here, but she knew that
Max was drawn to that woman. It didn’t
matter how she showed up or what she did; he was drawn to her. Maria didn’t know if she could blame him, he
was part alien and he had lived another life with the woman. Max had inextricably made Liz’s life more
complicated. Though they shared a love
that most people wish they could possibly experience, he was intricately linked
to this other life and woman.
She had denied it for a long time with Michael. Though they shared a chemistry, and a bond,
Michael was drawn to Isabel and had Max not fatefully healed Liz that day at
the Crashdown, she doubted that their lives would have ever crossed paths. Michael and Isabel always seemed to come
back to each other, which irritated the hell out of her, but when she could
look at things objectively, which was in spurts, she had admitted to herself
that some part of him would always be linked to her. Whether it was love or possession, or both, she didn’t know.
Suddenly Liz cleared her throat and Maria realized that she
was waiting for an answer to her question.
“Uh,” Maria smiled uneasily. “I
just think that we need to be careful Liz.
Things seem to change fast around here and we don’t usually see it
coming.”
“How cryptic is that?” Liz exclaimed in disdain.
“What? Do you really think that Max is
going to go back with that lying, murdering, white trash slut?”
Maria felt her jaw drop.
Part of her didn’t know whether to laugh, or be shocked. Liz had never expressed to her what she
thought about Tess, but those last words out of her mouth revealed a lot. “You go girl!” Maria cheered. She pushed herself off of the counter and
walked over to the couch, which she slumped down in.
Liz leaned back and rested her head against Maria’s shoulder
and let out a muffled laugh. “Where did
that come from?” she chuckled, in shock that those words had come from her
mouth.
Maria shrugged. “It’s not like she doesn’t deserve it,” she sighed. “She made our lives a living hell.”
Liz looked up at her.
“Do you think she’ll go back?”
Maria hesitated, not really wanting to answer the
question. Deep down inside, she had a
feeling that Liz wasn’t necessarily going to have the fairytale ending she so
desperately wanted with Max. He had
come to her like a white knight on a horse in her hour of need. He was something out of the ordinary,
something exciting and mysterious. And
as she thought about all these things, the one thing that came to mind
was…Michael.
Look how their promising relationship turned out? Maria looked at an anxious Liz and smiled,
hugging her tightly. “I hope so
babe. I really hope so.”
~~~
Kyle was surprised to find his dad at home so early in the
day. He wouldn’t have been home so
early himself except basketball practice had been cancelled due to an
unforeseen incident with a discus and Coach Landon’s head. It wasn’t something Kyle was all that upset
about either; the cancelled practice, not Coach’s head.
“Kyle? Is that you?”
his dad called from the kitchen.
He frowned. “Yeah?”
“Well could you come in here and help with supper?” Valenti
asked.
Kyle sloughed off his backpack and threw his coat on the
nearby couch. “What’s the big
deal? What, you can’t make a peanut and
jelly sandwich yourself?” he joked.
When he stalked into the kitchen, Kyle found his dad covered
in spaghetti sauce and dancing around excitedly as he was pouring a large pot
of pasta into a colander. He was at a
loss of what to make of his dad. The
man had never cooked in his life, and if he had, it was to make TV dinners in
the microwave.
“Okay what’s going on here?” Kyle asked suspiciously. “Did you talk to a girl on the phone again
and make a complete fool of yourself…or me, for that matter?”
The older Valenti glared at him and then turned back to
trying not to scald himself with the steam coming from the pot. “I just thought that I would try something
new,” he explained, dropping the pot with a loud clang into the sink. “Damn it!”
Kyle patted his dad on the back and shook his head. “Take a few deep breaths Dad. If you take the path to Enlightenment, you
won’t have to worry about such silly things,” he explained calmly. “Buddha has a calming and relaxing affect on
people. I mean, today I learned that
Tess is back in town and I’m cool as a cucumber.” His hand slid out in front of him, gesturing the smoothness of
his nerves.
His dad turned around and stared at him for a moment. “You know?”
Kyle frowned. “You
knew?”
Valenti shook his head.
“I just found out this morning.
I was going to break it to you easy over supper,” he gestured to the
mess in the kitchen, “but I guess I didn’t need to.”
Kyle raised his brows and shook his head, ‘no’. “So what, did you think I’d go mental or
something?” he asked, gyrating his hands beside his head.
Valenti frowned.
“No,” he protested awkwardly. “I
knew you’d be fine.” He smiled and
patted Kyle on the back.
Kyle smiled in return, not believing his father, but
allowing him to patronize him. “Oh
good,” he quipped. “Cause I am
fine you know.”
Valenti nodded. “I’m
sure you are,” he kept nodding. “But if
you weren’t, it would be fine too.”
Kyle rolled his eyes, grinning and bearing his father’s
overly anxious nurturing side. “Dad,
uh, I have homework to do…let me know when supper…”
His dad didn’t seem to hear him, and then suddenly his eyes
widened and his lips formed an ‘oh’. “Uh,
yeah!” Valenti said abruptly.
“Sure. Go ahead. Just as long as you’re okay?” Then he began to ramble. “Because if you’re not, then I’m here to
talk about it. I know how messed up it
must have been to realize that someone was screwing with your mind…”
Kyle stopped him and interrupted his long parental
speech. “For the last time Dad,”
he sighed. “I’m o-kay!” He watched as
his dad sighed and accepted his declaration of mental stableness.
“Fine,” Valenti nodded.
“I’ll…” His dad looked around at the crimson spattered walls. “I’ll order pizza.”
Kyle nodded. “Good
idea,” he smirked. “I’ll be in my
room. Call me when it gets here.”
~ * ~
As he lay back in his bed, Kyle didn’t know what to make of
his day. He was extremely proud of
himself for not freaking out at today’s earlier news. Tess. He hadn’t
thought about her in a long time.
Yes, at times, his thoughts would drift to the petite
blonde, with those big round blue eyes that made him feel like a
schoolboy. But lately, she hadn’t
crossed his mind as often as she had at first.
Since her departure, Kyle found himself distanced from the alien
spectacles now.
There had been the odd upheavals with the capture of Max and
Isabel’s life-threatening wounds after the rescue, but overall it had been
fairly quite. No clones or doubles
showing up. No one from the FBI had
been hunting them for a while, and no aliens in husks trying to kill them. On the whole, Kyle had been living a normal
life.
Kyle rolled his eyes.
Who was he kidding? The
life he had been living hadn’t been normal since the day he was shot and Max
healed him. Ever since that day, Kyle
had been anxious about any alien powers showing up or his body mutating into
something he didn’t recognize. And when
he had finally gotten over that fear, and the idea that Max, Michael, Isabel,
and Tess were going to kill him, the truth about Tess mind warping him into
carrying Alex’s dead body was revealed.
He still couldn’t get that image out of his mind. Though he still didn’t fully remember
exactly what happened, the knowledge of helping Tess cover her actions made him
ill. Kyle still couldn’t believe she
could do that to him.
Kyle sat up in his bed and let out a loud guttural cry. He had had enough about dwelling over the
past and what that two-faced woman, whom he had thought of like a sister had
done to them all. Looking around his
messy room, which was a far cry from the days when Tess vacated the room, Kyle
pushed himself off the bed and headed towards his dark, almost smelly
closet. He needed to put those socks
in the hamper!
As he rummaged around, casually throwing clothes and
underwear over his shoulders, Kyle found what he was looking for. In the back of his closet underneath a pile
of sweats and t-shirts, he pulled out an old Adidas shoebox. Kyle opened his door a crack, peeked out
into the hallway and checked if his Dad was anywhere near scraping some of the
spaghetti sauce off the walls. He
wasn’t.
So quietly Kyle closed and locked his bedroom door. He needed privacy when doing this. If his father caught him, the man would go
ballistic. As he lifted the thin shiny
black cardboard top, revealing a small picture frame, a couple of movie stubs,
and a few wrinkled pieces of paper, Kyle couldn’t help but feel a small lump
grow in his throat.
In the pastel pink, silver and blue frame was a picture of
Kyle, Tess and his dad. Tess was in the
middle, her face scrunched up like a little kid. Kyle was on her left, and his dad was on her right. They had just finished opening Christmas gifts
and Maria’s mom pulled out this disposable camera. When she had it developed, she gave a copy to Tess who had it
framed. It sat above her bed, and Kyle
had found it when he was clearing his room of Tess’ things after she
disappeared into space.
“And after all she’s done to you, you still wanna give her
the benefit of the doubt?” he growled at himself. Kyle let out a heavy sigh and began hitting his forehead lightly
with the metallic frame. “What are you
stupid?”
He leaned back on his headboard and set the picture down on
the pillow beside him. Then dragging
himself back to the shoebox, Kyle rummaged through the ticket stubs he had
saved from the late night movies they’d sometimes sneak into. Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Kyle
held the thin paper between his fingers and rolled his eyes.
Tess had been messing with him for days and one night, she
convinced him to go to the late show with her and pretended not to know what
was playing. Kyle let the ticket stub
drop back into the box. To say the
least, he was looking at all the students in a different light for a week.
“KYLE!” He
heard his Dad yell through the door.
“Pizza’s here.”
Looking at the unorganized box of papers and pictures, Kyle
sighed loudly and placed the lid on top of the contents, shutting out the
memories. “Coming Dad!” he shouted,
sliding off his bed and shoving the box back into the closet where it lived
happily for the past several months. He
turned around and grasped the doorknob when the sun glinted off of his pillow. Kyle leaned over and grabbed the small
metallic picture frame. His eyes
lingered for a moment on Tess’ smiling face before shutting out her pearly
white smile. He listened to the soft
thud of the light frame hit the bottom of his wastebasket.
He was fine.
~~~
Andaria rocked Zander while basking in the warmth of the
morning sun. The day always seemed to
bring a refreshing confidence to her.
Her grandson was happily grasping at her necklace, fingering the
delicate jewel that sparkled in the sunlight.
She knew that they would get through this and that nothing would derail
their plans. Zan would sit on the
throne once more and along side him would be her daughter, Ava.
New names would pass the lips of the Antarians, but once
more would the line of Kedar rule over Antar.
She still had to get used to calling her daughter Tess. It seemed foreign to her. Andaria had managed to keep her feelings of
awkwardness from Tess, but there was a sense of loss she had whenever her eyes
fell upon her daughter. Though she
didn’t look exactly the same, Tess’ essence remained and the architects had
managed to bring some resemblance of her daughter into the hybrid genetic code.
Suddenly Andaria was confused by Zander’s restless
behavior. He had been so calm and
serene since he awoke this morning, now he was fidgeting and irritable. “Maia!” Nicholas’ eerie throaty
rumble sent a chill up her back.
As she turned and glared distastefully at the short pug
creature, Andaria still didn’t understand how a lowly Iturian had been granted
the gift of telepathy he had. As powers
emerged at birth, Antarians had always taken this gift in stride. It was the sort of thing that Antarians
expected. It came to them as easily as
a human would expect the ability to talk.
Nothing special.
The house of Kedar had the strongest line of powers,
descending from one of the oldest known Kedrans; Cian, whose powers were
unmatched by an army of Antarians. This
was the line which Alaric and Zan had been born into, and now, Zander. The Antarians were ordinarily granted one
major ‘gift’ and once and a while other minor powers would emerge. But nonetheless, as a general rule,
Antarians had one power and that would determine their station or career. As they matured, the schools would train
them to use their powers to benefit the whole of Antar. It was their way.
What made the Royal house so unique was the fact that they
not only had one power, but usually two or three that would emerge as prominent
as the first. This is what kept the house
of Kedar as rulers over Antar. They
were the most powerful of the Kedrans, let alone the Antarians. Some said that they were a line chosen,
destined to oversee Antar. And it was a
claim, which the Iturians had long refuted, claiming they were the rightful
heirs of the throne of Antar.
“How is Zander today?” Nicholas asked; a grim smirk curled
up from the corner of his dark lips.
“He doesn’t look too happy today.”
The smug Iturian motioned to Zander’s struggling limbs, which were
almost writhing out of her grasp.
“I’m sure it’s none of your concern Nicholas.” His name was said with much distaste, that
it was far from hidden. A slip she
could not ill afford.
“Is that the way you speak to the Second in Command to
his Highness?” Nicholas sneered.
“You think you’ve pulled the wool over our eyes old woman, but soon
we’ll know exactly who you are and your plans.”
Andaria lifted Zander up from his waist and rested him over
her shoulder, shushing the whimpering child.
“Now why would say something like that of an aging woman like
me?” she asked innocently while patting the easing cries of her
grandchild. Andaria praised the Power
Above, that granted her the ability to disguise her thoughts.
Nicholas had been attempting to read her thoughts and find
out what secrets she held, but the One who granted their gifts, allowed her the
ability to disguise her thoughts in an illusionary web of lies. Andaria could defend her mind from Nicholas’
brutal rakings, by allowing him the illusion of being able to reach into the
darkest recesses of her mind and read her thoughts. In the past few days, she had fed him lies, which held some
truth, just enough to allow Khivar to believe he was breaking her down.
Nicholas let out an evil laugh, and his eyes flashed ebony
as he turned on his heel and slinked back towards the door. “Maia, Maia, Maia,” he clucked. “You’ll soon see how inevitable it is. Khivar will soon reign unchallenged, and the
skulking little peons who hold fast to their dear Zan’s return will see that
their King no longer desires to rule this planet.” His lanky fingers clutched the door handle as he looked over his
shoulder and leered. “It’s just a
matter of time my dear woman, before the House of Kedra is a distant memory.”
As she stared petulantly after him, her eyes boring a hole
into the door that now stood between her and that insignificant cretin, Andaria
shivered. “Only a matter of time,”
she said through clenched teeth.
“Before you and yours are rotting in the bowels of Volos!”
Andaria turned her gaze back to Zander, who was now resting
peacefully on her shoulder. She nuzzled
Zander’s soft, silky, dark brown hair.
He smelled of warm saffron and junipers. “Oh my child, I pray your mother returns home soon,” Andaria
whispered sweetly into his ear. “The
time is nearing, and we will no longer need to hide in dark places or under
pale masks. You shall see the House of
Kedar in its full power and glory! And
Zander, you will finally meet your father, the true heir of the throne of
Antar!”
As she closed her eyes, she could hear the trumpets of past
glory. Zan stood with Ava at his side
waving happily from the palace balcony, to greet their subjects. The flames of white fire glowed in the
slender, and unassuming torches, which had been strategically placed around the
palace’s green country pasture. And
connecting those bright flames were a string of small white lights that were
strung around the courtyard-like expanse.
The whole of Kedra was there to celebrate with the newly wed King and
Queen, as well as a few lowly Iturians.
Fadilia and Alaric stood proudly behind their son, as did she and
Radim. ‘Long live King Zan and Queen
Ava!’ were the words roaring from the courtyard. The Antarians spilled down from the marble courts of the palace
into the moonlit garden and country pasture.
Celebrations lasted for days.
Andaria sighed and pulled herself from the memories. She did not need to live in the past. Her daughter was alive and so was her
son-in-law, though she thought of him more as a son. As she quietly walked Zander back to his room and slowly lowered
him into his crib, Andaria prayed silently that Zan would remember who he had
left behind and those who needed him.
Her eyes fell upon Zander’s matted auburn curls, which would darken over
time, and ran her worn fingers through his hair. “Your Father, the King will return to his people, you mark my
words my dear child. He would never
turn his back on us. Your mother will
make sure of that.”
~~~
The shocking and bewildering tale that Jesse weaved had her spellbound. Isabel hadn’t expected Jesse to begin rambling on and on about how he wanted to protect her and that getting as much information on the four of them that the FBI had was the only way. “I…m-made a deal,” he stammered. “He was a close friend, or so I thought, when I was at the Bureau. He was going to help me keep you safe, as long as I told him everything I knew about you, Max and Michael.”
Isabel felt her throat closing; it was becoming hard to
breathe. As she looked toward the
ceiling, the darkness seemed to surround her and close in. Her head was spinning. What was he saying? She felt her stomach lurch and her body
began to ache, though not physically.
“Wh-what are you saying Jesse?” she whispered, still in shock.
“I knew you were a loser,” Michael growled. “But I never thought you’d sink so low!”
Michael’s voice echoed through her mind and part of the
weight of the accusation fell on her shoulders. They had been right.
Jesse wasn’t to be trusted. He
couldn’t handle the idea that she was an alien and betrayed her by selling out
her ‘family’ to a group of ruthless killers.
It was her fault for bringing him into their lives.
“Isabel, please,” Jesse coaxed, drawing near to her
and cupping her face in his hands. “I
didn’t know this was going to happen. I
swear.” Isabel stared blankly at this
man she had bent over backwards to try to please and work out the problems
between them. After all, the rift
between them had been her fault. But
now, she felt cold; a numbness had set in, and she stood there limply at this
man she had married. Jesse pressed his
warm lips upon her forehead and pulled her body into his embrace. “Isabel, talk to me please,” he sobbed.
Who was this man she married? As Isabel pulled out of his grasp, she looked around her and saw
bodies scattered along the ground. He
had done this to them? Jesse had
brought this looming disaster upon them?
~~~
Max couldn’t control his anger. He lunged at Jesse who stood with his back to him. As he felt his clenched fist drive into
Jesse’s unsuspecting side, only then, did Max feel release. “You traitor. I knew we shouldn’t have trusted you,” Max said, his voice raspy
from emotion. He found his grip along
Jesse’s collar and pulled him close, until his nose was almost pressing against
Jesse’s.
“Max, I know that what I did was unforgivable, but I didn’t
mean for any of this to happen!” Jesse shrieked. He could see the fear in Jesse’s eyes as Max tightened his grip
on him.
“And what was it that was supposed to happen?” Michael
demanded.
Max briefly glanced at Michael whose body was so tense, he
could feel the energy building from within him. If Jesse made the wrong move, Michael looked like he would kill
him. He turned his gaze back toward
Jesse and narrowed his eyes. Maybe he
deserved it. Jesse had drawn the FBI
down on them again. “Well answer him!”
Max commanded when Jesse seemed unable to speak.
~~~
Jesse had expected some reaction to this effect, but he
never imagined how small it would make him feel. He could have melted into a puddle ooze right then. “Tell us!” Michael shouted into his ear
again.
Though Michael’s intense anger and strength put the fear of
God in him, he was more afraid of Isabel.
She was standing only a couple of feet away; the look of disbelief and
shock had not left her beautiful face.
The petite blonde was speaking quietly trying to comfort her. “Look, I’ll tell you. Just don’t hurt me!” Jesse pleaded.
Max’s face darkened and he shook his head. “You should have thought of that before
betraying us and Isabel for your own safety,” he retorted.
Jesse swallowed hard and his heart was racing. He knew them, or so he hoped. And they wouldn’t harm him, despite his
earlier conceptions about Max and Michael.
But he had realized that too late.
Jesse had already hurt them more than they could have ever hurt
him. “Look I love Isabel,” Jesse
declared, looking over at his distraught wife.
“I love you.” His declaration of
love fell on deaf ears as he prayed for Isabel to look in his direction.
“Some kind of love, selling her out to the highest bidder?”
Michael leered. “Is that how you got your job in New York?”
“No!” Jesse exclaimed, his gaze focused on Isabel. “I did not do that! I was just…” How could he explain to them how he just wanted to protect
Isabel?
“Then what?” Max asked darkly.
“I…I met with Cal, he’s the only one I met with,” Jesse
stammered. “I swear!”
“And why did you meet with him? For what good reason?” Max questioned, letting him slowly out of
his grip.
Jesse took a deep breath; his four rescuers formed a tight
ring around him. “Like I said, he was a
friend in the Bureau.”
“But you said you didn’t weren’t an agent in the FBI,”
Michael said pointedly.
“I wasn’t, but I met him when I was doing my
internship,” Jesse said laboriously. “I
didn’t lie to you about that.”
“Yeah, and we can completely trust what you say
right?” Michael snorted.
Jesse looked worriedly at Michael who folded his arms across
his chest. “Look, none of this happened
until after I found out Isabel lied to me and hid from me the fact that she was
an alien,” he sighed. “I wanted to find
out more about you guys and if you were capable of hurting me.” As he tried to explain to the four aliens –
his confusion, his hurt, and his fear – all of it just seemed inadequate and
pathetic. “I talked to Cal and he said
he wanted to help me. I got him to find
out everything the FBI had on you and paid him to keep it a secret. When he told me there was a group of FBI
agents who had heard about you guys and that they would probably have us
surveyed, I freaked. I hadn’t planned
on being a fugitive, someone the FBI would hunt to the ends of the earth.”
“So all of your talk about for…forgiving me was just a lie?”
Isabel asked, finally managing to speak.
Jesse lowered his eyes in shame. “Isabel it wasn’t that. I
was just so angry. I can’t stand
lies. You know that about me,” he
explained, pleading with his eyes for her to understand. “So you must know that I was desperate when
I did this. I hated lying to you.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you were really torn up about it,”
Michael sneered.
“Michael!” Isabel cried out frustratingly. “Please.” Isabel looked at Jesse to continue.
Jesse nodded. “You
told me that you would have told me, and even then, sometimes I don’t know if I
could fathom truly understanding it, but then Michael and Max stepped in like
there was nothing wrong with what you did!” he explained incredulously. “I was tired of it. So when I was out on my own for those few
days I started talking with Cal. I
didn’t tell him anything important, I mean, it’s not like I knew anything at
all. He was the one who was telling me
everything. Now looking back on it I
should have realized that it was a stupid idea. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I just wanted to know
who was hunting you guys and what it was that they knew.”
All of them had become very quiet. Isabel still seemed livid at the fact that he had even done this,
but he could see in her eyes that she didn’t hate him, which was definitely the
case with Michael. The dark gleam in
his eyes told Jesse how much he disgusted the hybrid. As he scanned the faces of the other two, Jesse knew the feeling
was similar, though he couldn’t really tell with the blonde. He didn’t know her well enough to read her
face.
“I’m sorry,” Jesse whispered, the tears that ran down his
face had dried and he was left with a dull unsettled feeling in the pit of his
stomach.
~~~
“Can we just go?” Isabel asked. She had heard enough.
Nothing was computing right then.
She was still in a daze, though she had regained her composure. As she stared at her husband, all Isabel could
think was, getting away.
“But the FBI?” Jesse reminded her.
“Tess can fix that, right?” said Max as he looked at her
confidently.
“Yeah,” Tess nodded.
She closed her eyes and in a few minutes, she opened them again and
motioned to the group to leave. “It’s
done. They will think that some green
aliens flew off in a spaceship, like a sci-fi movie.”
“But what about our faces and the pictures they have stashed
somewhere?” Isabel asked.
Tess shook her head.
“Possession.” she smirked.
“We were just innocent humans, and in the commotion we ran away after
the ‘aliens’ gave us amnesia.”
“Nice,” Michael mumbled.
“So we’d better get back.
It’s getting dark and Mom and Dad will be wondering where we are,” Max
reminded the four.
“We’re going to have to pretend everything’s fine, if we’re
not going to tip Mom and Dad off about what happened tonight, and what we
learned,” Isabel said distractedly to Max.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Max replied, glaring at
Jesse. “I knew tonight wasn’t going to
be a picnic, but now this?” He ran his
hands through his thick hair. “Let’s
get going. I don’t want to be any later than we already are.”
As the five walked out of the dark abandoned warehouse,
there was an uneasy silence hovering over them.
~ * ~
“Are you all right?” Michael whispered, reaching out and
rested on her shoulders, slowing her, she walked numbly towards the jeep.
“I’ll be fine,” Isabel replied emotionless. She stared straight ahead, unable to look at
Michael at that moment. Isabel couldn’t
bear to look at anyone. She just wanted
to run away and curl up in a ball.
There were too many emotions, feelings that needed to sorted out and
compartmentalized; then she would be able to deal with it. But the thought of facing her parents, the idea
that they would look at her with that knowing expression on their face, telling
her that she should have listened to them.
All of them would.
“Isabel, talk to me,” Michael coaxed. “I want to help.”
Isabel head snapped around, revealing the silent tears,
which stained her porcelain face.
“Help?” she cried. “How can you
help Michael? I’m in a marriage of lies
and I feel like at any moment, I’ll explode.
How can you help or fix that?”
She glared at him wildly, hating him for being right; daring him to tell
her that he has the answers; wanting him to tell her it was all a dream;
knowing things could never be the same and that her world was torn apart.
Michael didn’t know how to respond, so he did the only thing
that came to mind – held her. His muscles
tightened, as the arms that were wrapped around her soft, trembling body,
longed for her to absorb his strength, his love. She struggled against him and he held her firmly as Isabel
finally collapsed into his arms, sobbing.
~~~
Jesse watched his wife being comforted by a man other than
himself. Jealously reared its ugly head
and began to approach the embracing couple.
He knew Michael would use this as an excuse to draw closer to his wife.
~~~
Tess motioned with her head to Max as they both watched the
vein in Jesse’s neck bulge and his eyes grow clouded. “Uh Max?”
Max frowned and stepped in front of Jesse who was about
ready to charge over and interrupt Isabel and Michael. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Jesse pushed Max back.
“I’m going to talk to my wife!” he replied sharply. “Is that all right with you?”
“Uh, no you’re not,” Tess answered derisively, taking her
place beside Max. “She’s been through
enough and you’re not going to upset her more than you already have.”
Jesse looked at Tess disdainfully. “And who do you think you are?
I don’t know you and what right do you have to stick your nose in my
family’s business?”
Tess glowered at his audacity, since he had just betrayed
them all to the FBI. “I think you made
it my business when you lied to all them and also ratted me out to the Feds,”
she retorted.
Max stepped in between the two as the anger and resentment
began to mount. “Stop it,” he
sighed. Max glanced over his shoulder
where Isabel and Michael had pulled out of the embrace and were headed towards
the jeep. “We don’t have time for
this.” Max glared at Jesse. “Grin and bear it. Right now, I don’t think Isabel will appreciate any of your
thoughts, sincere or otherwise. And
you,” he looked Tess grimly, “I don’t think you need to make things worse.”
Tess swallowed a cutting retort, knowing full well that he
was thinking about her betrayal to Alex.
“Fine,” she said reluctantly, folding her arms across her chest and
watching Jesse out of the corner of her eye.
“But I wasn’t saying it to start a fight.” She felt like she was getting scolded like a little schoolgirl.
Max’s eyes softened.
He knew she was just trying to protect Isabel, in whatever shape or form
that took. In her way, Max knew that
she cared about Isabel like a sister.
“I know,” he whispered, nodding at Tess, whose eyes were hooded by her
long lashes.
“Let’s go!” Michael yelled from the jeep.
Max waved and gestured for Jesse to start heading towards
the jeep. The dark haired man, whom Max
had considered a brother, in the loosest sense of the word, grudgingly began to
walk to the car. He wished the night
was over and that he could wake up and find out all of it was just a nightmare.
Suddenly he felt a hand slip into his and pull him from his
thoughts. “Let’s go Max,” Tess
beckoned, her eyes soft and clear. She
had forgiven him for being sharp with her.
Max nodded. He looked down at
her pale hand in his and then up into her gentle blue eyes. How could someone so seemingly kind and
sweet have killed Alex in cold blood?
Tess swallowed and let her hand slip slowly out of his
hand. It had been presumptuous of her
to do that. She had done automatically,
without thinking about it. Tess
remembered Zan always being so pensive and her trick of sliding her hand into
his to bring him out of his reverie. It
always worked, as it did now.
“Let’s go,” Max said distractedly.
Tess nodded and smiled.
“Yeah, don’t want this party to stop do we?” she said dryly.